Closing the Data Broker Loophole - Congress must pass legislation that prohibits government agencies from buying its way around the Fourth Amendment and other legal privacy protections.

the_post_of_tom_joad , 3 months ago

But why would they when they got a legal way to do whatever the fuck they want?

bionicjoey , 3 months ago

This shouldn't be about making it so 3 letter agencies can't buy data. It should be about making it illegal to collect and sell that data in the first place.

fluckx , 3 months ago

This. They're definitely barking up the wrong tree here.
The problem isn't that government agencies can simply buy it from brokers. The problem is that companies and data brokers can collect all this data in the first place.

Bishma , 3 months ago

Agreed. If I can't buy it, why shouldn't the FBI be allowed? But if the data doesn't exist then neither of us can buy it and the problem goes away.

assembly , 3 months ago

I feel like this is the forest-through-the-trees comment. The data shouldn’t exist and that should be the direction of legislation. If it’s available for purchase then I think it would be weird that any schmuck could buy it but not the government. If the data collection is stopped, no one gets it and everyone wins.

gAlienLifeform OP , 3 months ago

Also, if something is technically possible but illegal for the CIA/FBI/etc to do, it just means they have to try to hide the fact they're still doing it

GluWu , 3 months ago

The law will say feds can't buy data*

*unless they want to for "reasons"

They still need data to be collected on everyone. They're just going to start buying the data of all the "bad" people which will be a third of the population.

BloodSlut , 3 months ago

spoiler alert:

they wont

gravitas_deficiency , 3 months ago

The amount of hoop-jumping everyone in this country has to do to convince the Supreme Court to actually enforce the articles and amendments of the constitution unless it’s the 2nd amendment is both infuriating and incredibly telling.

phillaholic , 3 months ago

New strategy: convince them this data collection includes information about their guns, and these third parties are collecting it in order to take them away.